Naruto: An Unexpected Awakening
by MrSir17
Summary: Fleeting memories and static interference. Familiar and completely foreign experiences. Why do some things feel so right and others so wrong? Who was I? And who am I going to be? I'm not sure, and hopefully this crazy place doesn't kill me before I find out. Rated T Self-Insert
1. Chapter 1

** Chapter One: Awakening**

A lance of pain through my head caused me to groan. Shoving my hands into my eyes in a hopeless attempt to rid myself of the pain caused nothing except those weird colors you see behind your eyelids sometimes. I was lying in a bed. That much I could tell. It wasn't the most comfortable thing I'd ever slept on. The blanket was way too scratchy and the pillow was limp. I dragged my hands slowly down my face and opened my eyes. Bad idea idiot. Everything was bright and blurry and I immediately had to wrench my eyes closed again. My head was drumming like a….drum….and I still couldn't see. So basically nothing had been accomplished. I tried once more to open my eyes. Slowly this time, and waited to adjust to the light. After a few long moments I noticed things really weren't improving. Thoroughly aggravated now I groaned again, filling the mostly silent room with a loud noise that disturbed the stillness. As I quieted back down, I could hear a soft beeping going at a steady pace. So….I was in a hospital? Keeping my eyes closed I used my hands to feel up my arms until I came across an IV. Frustrated with my continued lack of sight and the piercing throbs in my head, I (probably unintelligently) wrenched the needle out of my wrist, causing the machine next to my bed to start blaring WAY too loudly. The throbbing worsened as did my mood…

Why was I in a hospital? I…didn't remember being hurt…Actually…wait what? Uh…..what had I been doing at all? Where had I been? I must've been doing something with my family...

Who was my family? Where did I live? What were my parents' names? My siblings? Did I have siblings? It felt like I should have brothers, but I wasn't sure how many!

My name…..MY NAME!…..the blaring of the machine focused back into my ears and I remembered my headache…and GODDAMIT that was getting really irritating! Sitting up all the way in the bed I swung blindly in the direction of the noise. The side of my fist came in contact with something and I heard it crash over. Making a ton of noise. Which hurt my head. And it was still beeping….Fantastic.

A door slammed open, scaring the freaking crap out of me. Someone was calling out for help, a woman's voice. Footfalls of multiple people entered the room. Large hands grasped my shoulders and eased me back into the pillow. They were telling me to calm down and how everything was going to be just fine. But I couldn't see, my damn head felt like it was going to split in half, and the machine was still screaming at me. I'm sorry dammit! If I had known you'd be so freaking loud I wouldn't have taken the IV out you loud bastard! A pin-prick entered my wrist, and I started panicking again. Voices were frantically telling me to calm down once more, and I sort of sympathized with the doctors. I probably looked like a maniac. Drowsiness filled my being and I felt myself slip into unconsciousness.

When I woke up the second time, I could hear feet in the room with me. Remembering what happened last time I tried to open my eyes, I merely repeated what I had done last time and pressed my hands into my face and groaned. This time it was completely to let whoever was in the room with me let me know I was awake. Yeah, I'm cool like that. A short feminine gasp was my reward as the feet got closer to my bed. I tried to ask why I couldn't see, but it came out as most of one syllable before I went into a major coughing fit.

"OH! You must be SO thirsty! Give me three seconds!"

One.

Two.

Three.

Four…

Five…..

"Here you go," she leaned me up off the bed and gently pressed a cup to my lips, "drink this. Please."

Sorry lady, but you were two seconds too slow. Hahaha, who was I kidding! I blindly grasped for the cup, spilling half of the water on my face and getting half in my mouth. Holy crap that hit just the spot. Feeling what felt like days' worth of throat crud get washed down, I felt confident enough to try to speak once more.

"Cough cough….Excuse me miss…..but I tried to open my eyes, and…and I can't see too well…." The hell? I couldn't remember exactly what my voice should sound like, but for some reason I was expecting something deeper. The voice I spoke with was too high, and soft, almost fragile. I decided I hated it.

"Here, you need your glasses."

Glasses? That….didn't feel right either. But as she softly slid what I assumed to be MY glasses onto my face, I felt both a sense of rightness and wrongness. Weird? Yes. But I was too busy being excited to see to truly explore this train of thought. Carefully fluttering my eyes open, I almost flinched as my body expected to be assaulted by the same blurry light, but I was surprised to clearly see a plain room before me. The blinds were closed and only a dim over-head light was on. The woman who had brought me the water was wearing a traditional nurse's uniform, had light-brown hair done up in a loose bun, and had a soft but overall plain face. She looked at me with a mixture of both uncertainty and sadness. Looking like she realized she had forgotten something she widened her eyes.

"Hold on stay right here! I've gotta go get your doctor!" I snorted. Where was I going to go? But I didn't say anything mean. She seemed genuinely worried about me, and had gotten me the water AND the glasses. She was already in my good books. The room being empty for a few moments helped me to notice that my headache was mostly gone. The IV and the beeping were still there….of course….but I tried to ignore them as I concentrated on my glasses.

They were heavy on my face and felt unnatural for some reason. I had amnesia, that much even I wasn't stupid enough to not tell, but that shouldn't make glasses that apparently belonged to me feel weird. Well maybe it did. What the hell did _I _know about memory loss? But. It seemed I remembered small useless things. Like the fact that I had slept on more comfortable beds before. That I recognized what a traditional nurse's outfit should look like. Small casual stuff. Any attempt to remember my name caused my headache to attack again with a stick and rock so I left that alone for now.

The nurse reentered the room followed by an older looking gentleman, probably in his fifties. He looked like a doctor should, lab coat and all. His sleeves were rolled up and his hair was white and in a crew-cut. He came across as kinda harsh, and I couldn't resist the urge to flinch when he made eye contact with me. Most of my anxiety left however at his smile. I could feel my mouth shoot him a small smile back in return. He seemed quite pleased with himself.

"Shriou-chan, how are you feeling?" Uhhhh no? I couldn't tell what was wrong exactly with that name. But it felt weird being directed at me. I also got the feeling that maybe I _knew_ a Shirou from somewhere else. But like all my other memories it eluded me.

His smile didn't really reach his eyes when he greeted me. He looked kinda lost in my opinion.

"You've uh, been through quite the ordeal. Can you tell me if you're experiencing any physical pain? How's your head? You had a large laceration in your skull when you were admitted in here." At my confused look he chucked lightly before telling me I had simply had a large wound on my head.

"The first time I woke up it hurt pretty bad, but now I think it's fading….I can't remember anything." No point in hiding it really. It hadn't actually crossed my mind to try and hide it. There was no point. It'd be revealed the first time anyone asked me….well anything. Yeah best to just get it out in the open.

"You mean about _that _night? Or you can't remember anything at all?"

"I don't know who I am. Or why I'm in the hospital. In fact I didn't even know I needed glasses," I sheepishly scratched the back of my head, "And is _Shirou_ really my name? That kinda sucks, hahaha." My attempt at a joke didn't really have the effect I had intended. The nurse and the man just kind of looked at each other with the "oh shit" look.

"Ahem, that's…a serious problem Shirou. Is there anything at all you can recall? Any small details you can remember. Don't think anything is insignificant. Something small may help you remember something else."

So I told him everything I thought I might remember. Which mostly just included things I felt familiar with, like the itchy bed, or the nurse uniform. Expectation turned to disappointment when I steered into how weird the glasses and my name felt. Apparently that wasn't good. My name was Shirou Uchiha, they told me. A stupid name. I lived in Konoha. Which I admitted to them DID in fact sound familiar, which they perked up to. Once they learned that Konoha was something I was vaguely aware of at some level, they started prattling off random facts that honestly just sounded like nonsense to me.

I was six years old. A student at the civilian school. Belonged to a famous clan of ninjas, of all things. And apparently I had and older brother, who used to be a ninja before his death. When they hesitantly told me this part, I probably relieved and worried them with my lack of reaction. I had and lost a brother in about ten seconds. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel, so I decided to ignore a throb in my chest and move on. I was a little upset that I wasn't good enough to be one of these so-called ninjas, but I didn't voice it to these people. They might think I'm focusing on the completely wrong thing. Which was kind of true but whatever.

When nothing besides Konoha clicked in my brain, the doctor, who had revealed his name was Hagoshi-san, dropped the bombshell. Get this, the head wound I had suffered was from an attacker. An attacker who had killed the entire Uchiha family sans myself and one other. An attacker who was, himself, an Uchiha. It's safe to say my head spun with this new information. I felt a distant sadness for the loss of a family that I didn't know, but it's hard to feel anything for people I couldn't remember. Which sucked major ass. This guy hadn't just killed a family, but a clan of almost a five hundred by himself…..What kind of fucked up mother did you have to be to do that? I, and Hagoshi and the nurse, were surprised to see tears start to fall down my face. I didn't feel sad, but apparently some part of me was destroyed. It made me glad. Maybe, just maybe, I was still in here somewhere. I just had to find it.

The two of them left a few minutes later after some more questions. I wouldn't be surprised if they were skeptical. I mean, amnesia is the biggest cliché in the book, right? I'm not sure how I knew that, but I did damnit! It was one more thing to grasp onto. I had to readjust the glasses on my face to keep the straight. Which irritated me. Needing glasses sucked. I wanted to be in a better mood now that things finally seemed to be happening, but knowing that you just survived a bloodbath and had severe amnesia…could bring a lot of people down. I attempted to reach for the positive. At least ninja were a thing! That was cool right? Too bad I wasn't one. Which killed my mood all over again…..Yippee.

Over the next few days, people brought me my food, which was awful, but I didn't have any other choices and was starving. I also was allowed to get out of the bed to go to the bathroom. Seeing myself in the mirror was super weird. Try imagining seeing yourself for the first time ever! I honestly expected to look cooler. My hair was black and wavy and covered my ears and almost went over my glasses. My eyes were an uninteresting dark-ass brown, almost black. And finally my skin was too pale, but maybe that was because I'd been through a trauma…Or I was pale….damn!

It was also unnatural that I was SO short! It was strange that I expected to be older, but this person looking back at me, this _Shiiiiirrrrouuuu_, looks like a dweeb. I'm not sure what a dweeb is but I definitely looked like one. Finally my attire consisted of the typical hospital shirt and pants.

That Hagoshi guy came in a few more times to check on me and ask how I was doing, but overall nothing noteworthy really happened until…

A crash outside my door jerked me out of my dream. It had been about colorful ponies and magic and friendship and UGH! Hopefully I had short-term memory loss as well because I most certainly wanted forget whoever the fuck rainbow dash was. Trying to move on, I reached for my glasses in time to see a small kid about my age bust into the room, frantic doctors right on his tail as he tried to close the door in their faces. The kid looked haggard, worn-out, skinny, and generally unhealthy looking. His attempt at closing the door was unsuccessful as the doctors chasing him opened the door and grabbed his shoulders, steering him out. Looking at me seemed enough to calm him down. The boy looked beyond relieved. The last thing I heard as they 'escorted' him out sent shivers down my spine.

"…..I'm not alone…."

Hagoshi came back to my room an hour later. That was the other survivor, he told me. Poor kid, I thought. He looked _so_ destroyed! I asked him why they couldn't just let the guy in, and he told me that _Sasuke_ had just woken up. He had been out almost a week longer than I had. It was a blessing in disguise that I had amnesia, because that kid looked messed up. I imagined if your entire family was killed all at once, then just the small hope that their was another survivor at all had probably come as earth shaking news to him. It struck me again that it was MY family that had been killed. It bothered me that I didn't feel much sadness. That wasn't normal. Ugh.

I asked Hagoshi if Sasuke and I had been close, and he admitted to not knowing, but probably not. Sasuke was a first year at the ninja academy and the son of the now deceased clan leader. My father was apparently a civilian my ninja mother had married to after her first husband died. He died fairly shortly after my birth, and mom didn't remarry again. It still bothered me that my half-brother was a full fledged ninja by the time he died and I had been sent to the civilian school. Maybe my mom hadn't wanted anyone else to die…

Another week passed before the leader of Konoha waltzed into my room followed by Hagoshi and a blonde man. I of course being an amnesia afflicted six year old, didn't realize this until after I had said, "What's up old man?"

It had just slipped out oh so naturally. I saw the triangular hat, the red and white robs, and his goatee, and just knew that he _should_ be called old man. It was like a tingling on the back of my brain that was supplying knee-jerk reactions. I had the decency to look a little embarrassed as Hagoshi hastily whispered to me that this was the Hokage. Which I needed him to further elaborate to village leader. Which surprisingly didn't surprise me. I _knew this man. I KNEW THIS MAN!_

A look of shock passed the _Hokage's _face before a small chuckle. "I guess I AM getting up there in the years, hohoho."

"Um, have we met before? I KNOW you! You're the first person I've seen that clicks!"

The Old man looked at me critically for a moment before sighing, "No Shirou-chan. I'm afraid that we've never made acquaintance. You probably have seen me before though. As much as I hate to brag, I AM a little famous."

I groaned and pressed my hands into my eyes under my glasses, which was quickly becoming a bad habit when I was frustrated.

"This is a good thing however," The Hokage continued before I could get too dejected, "The man I've brought with me is Inoichi Yamanaka. His talents include those of the mind. I was hoping that maybe he could browse your mind in an attempt to regain your memories?"

This dude was a freaking mind reader?! What kind of ninjas could read minds? What about being a ninja let people read minds? Could anyone do it? The question I chose to ask was, "Uhhhhh, it doesn't hurt does it?"

Inoichi chuckled lightly before stepping forward, "No Shirou-kun. As long as you remain willing to the technique, it will be completely painless." When I asked him what it would be like, he said that he would go into where my memories where supposed to be. Genuinely curious, I asked him what it was like to see other people's thoughts and memories. He told me that it was different for every person. The mind created a kind of separate room that held memories, and Inoichi could go in and see them. I asked him if I could see this place too. I needed to see these memories for myself…..And I'd be lying if I said I didn't just want to see a cool ninja trick. The blonde turned to the old man asking for permission and the Hokage merely nodded.

Inoichi explained what he was going to do and I did my best to not tense up or resist when he placed his hand on my head in fear of the pain that might occur if I messed up. He was right when he said it was completely painless. In fact there wasn't any _real _feeling. One minute I had been sitting in my hospital room and the next I was in a bland white room with no windows and one door. It oddly enough was shaped exactly like my hospital room sans the beds, technology, and windows. In their place was a small filing cabinet sitting on the floor. Inoichi and I looked around for a few seconds taking in the underwhelming environment. _This _was what was inside my head? That's….embarrassing. Does this mean my personality is as bland as a hospital room? Ugh, I didn't want to think about it.

Inoichi crouched in front of the filing cabinet and turned to me, "May I?" as if he needed my permission. Well maybe he did? It was my mind. Maybe it was easier with consent? At my nod the man opened the top drawer and went through the documents inside. When I asked what he saw, he chuckled and pulled out a paper that had a crude drawing of a black haired child holding hands with a man and a woman wearing a doctor's uniform and a nurse's uniform respectfully. It was also drawn in crayon, in case you were curious. You sick bastard. At my grimace and look of surprise, Inoichi outright laughed, and told me it was very common of children's memories. I didn't voice my real curiosity of how many children this guy had actually read the minds off, but I tried not to worry about it too much.

What we did find out, was the only thing the cabinet held was memories of the last two weeks in the hospital. There were crayon drawings of Hagoshi and the nurse, Sasuke, and even the Hokage. The most surprising thing was when he pulled out a paper that was _still _be drawn as he held it. It was the two of us, sitting in front of a filing cabinet and holding up papers. Huh…meta. Hehe.

"It's shouldn't be that shocking that your mind is still writing down your memories." He chuckled and put the papers he held back where they came from. When he was done, he stood and approached the only door in the room. He tried to turn the handle only to find out it was locked. When he attempted to give the door a hard jerk, my head split into two, blood hit the floor, I screamed…

Inoichi snatched his hand off of my head as I stumbled back. Quickly I pressed both my hands to the side of my head in an attempt to keep my brain from hitting the floor. Only to realize there was no split. I was fine. I _did _have a headache again. Shit. I glanced up at the nice blonde to see he was holding his head too. I felt oddly glad, at least these guys knew how I was feeling now. Ugh no he's nice, I should feel bad. The Hokage hadn't even flinched as we had our small panic attack. He stood straight, patiently waiting to hear what we had seen. Inoichi spoke up first.

"We saw what you might expect. Memories from the last two weeks in a mostly empty room that resembled this one. It's no surprise considering this room is the most Shirou-kun has know since he woke up. The strange thing Hokage-sama, was a locked door, that attacked both Shirou-kun and myself when I attempted to enter."

"…Attacked?"

"Yes Hokage-sama, it's the best that I can describe it. I've seen similar mind blocks in experienced shinobi, but they always attacked whoever was intruding. I've never seen a block that was just as painful for both parties. It's likely that maybe Shirou-kun accidentally sealed away all of his memories after the attack. Like his mind was trying to protect itself from the trauma. But that wouldn't explain why this block would be so antagonistic towards everyone."

I digested all of this as best I could. So my mind might have been too traumatized by the massacre and just decided to forget it? Man, my mind is a coward. Which meant _I _was a coward, I thought internally while clenching my fists. This was stupid.

The Hokage nodded like it was expected. Then he turned to me and asked, "Would you like to Sasuke-chan?"

Surprised by the abrupt change of topic, I numbly nodded and tried to forget about my headache. The Hokage smiled down at me and said, "Well then, let's head on out shall we?"

Sasuke's room was actually pretty close to mine, which explained how he'd found my room so quickly that first week. Thinking about that visit made me nervous. He was clearly more effected by our family's death than I was. Which, made sense, but still scared me. What if he got angry that I wasn't sad enough? What if we had hated each other before? What if he was an ass-hat? Ugh, I rubbed my eyes trying to shut my head up. When the old man asked if I was ready I nodded, and he opened the door.

Sasuke was just putting his slippers on when we opened the door. His eyes snapped to us one at a time before landing on me. Eyes widening in surprise, Sasuke launched foreword and grabbed me by the shoulders. He took a few seconds of staring at my face before he sighed in relief and said in a softer voice than I expected, "…you're ok."

"Uh…yeah." Crap. I had been hoping that he'd be a talker. I haven't had enough practice yet. No one really wanted to have a full length conversation with me for some reason. Doctors and whoever came to see me were perfectly polite, but they seemed distant or evasive. Like they were afraid if they talked to me they'd break me or something. The point I'm trying to make is that the longest I've talked to a person was Inoichi in my mind. And I'm still not sure if that actually happened of not.

Sasuke looked at me for a few more moments before sighing, "Hn. You're memories are gone." It wasn't a question. Someone had given him a heads up, which was good, because I wasn't sure I could tell him.

Trying to make a good (new) first impression, I attempted to talk, "Hmm, yeah that's what it looks like…So I've been wondering, was I a jerk? No one will tell me….." I trailed off as Sasuke just kind of stared at me like I'd grown a second head. Like he couldn't believe I'd try and make a joke right now. And I could barely believe myself either. This kid's whole world had just crumbled around him, and here I was, some ass who knew nothing trying to break the ice. Sasuke just made that "Hn." noise he'd made before and shrugged. He mumbled, "We didn't really know each other."

Oh. Hmmm. Now what? Ugh crap old man! Help me! Noticing me look desperately at him, the Hokage spoke, "Sasuke, it's been decided that both you and Shirou are fit to leave the hospital. You have a few options. As children, you need a place to live." While I nodded, Sasuke's back stiffened straight. Ah, home would be empty wouldn't it? No way a traumatized six year would want to go back to the scene of the

"I want to go home."

…The old man and I both turned to look at Sasuke as he spoke up. He was staring defiantly up at the Hokage, like maybe he'd have to fight his way home. However that wouldn't be necessary as the old man merely nodded solemnly.

"I understand. Shriou? Do you have any…"

"He's coming with me." Sasuke rudely interrupted the Hokage and spoke for myself. I must have looked startled because Sasuke's eyes met mine and he grimaced. "I mean if you want to."

It's not like I had any other plans. It's just that I hadn't expected Sasuke to really want me around. I didn't remember our family, I was a civilian, and overall a waste of space. The fact that this boy had spoken up _for _me, made me feel happy.

"Yes, I-I want to go with Sasuke." I didn't think I'd seen a more relieved looking face in the last two weeks.

It took an hour to get everything arranged and taken care of. Now Sasuke and I were both officially checked out of the hospital. The Hokage had left the two of us with what was known as a Chunin as an escort. When I whispered my question to Sasuke he looked surprised for a second before a look of realization crossed his face. He proceeded to talk longer than I'd expected him to. He explained the shinobi system in Konoha to me. Genin, Chunin, Jounin, and other things. Our Chunin escort silently led us through the village, and honestly I had trouble multi-tasking. I was listening to Sasuke whisper to my right, watching out to make sure not to run into anything, and marveling at the village. I'd seen it from the windows in my room, but walking among it now was so completely different. There were so many people. And the vast majority of them were looking at me. Us. Sasuke and me. Staring. Whispering. Ugh. I pressed my hands to my eyes and fought a headache.

The clothes our Chunin escort brought us matched. A black shirt with a large symbol on the back of a fan and white shorts. It's liked our watchers wanted to announce that we were Uchiha to the whole world. It sucked. The hospital had had admirable air conditioning, but no one had told me we lived in the hottest place on earth! Ok maybe I was exaggerating. But this long sleeve black shirt was NOT helping! Damn.

When the three of us finally made it to what Sasuke told me was the Uchiha district, I got worried. Honestly I had hoped that at the very least I would recognize my _home_. But I was getting nothing. Ugh. The Chunin led us through the eerily quiet district, until we reached a large house. The Chunin whose name I embarrassedly had never asked for asked the two of us if we needed anything. Sasuke looked away towards the house so I said, "We probably need food?" I said it more as a question to Sasuke. He looked surprised before nodding numbly. He wasn't all there right now. So I should be.

The Chunin nodded before disappearing. Which freaked me out. But Sasuke didn't seem too bothered as he opened the door and took off his sandals. I followed his example and silently followed him through the unfamiliar new location. Even if it was new, I still preferred it to my hospital room. I think Sasuke forgot I was here. I expected him to go through the house, looking around and inspecting the area. Except he walked straight to what I figured was his room, opened the door, and walked inside. He'd seemed ok on the walk over, but now that he was in this big empty house now, he seemed lost. Acting on instinct only. I felt for him. But I needed food, and a place to sleep. It probably wouldn't be smart to take any of his family's rooms, especially since they were so recently gone. So after exploring the entire house and finding a spare futon, I laid it out in what I figured was the living room. Going to the kitchen, I found that everything was spoiled, and that I needed to climb on the counters to check every cabinet. There were some miscellaneous ingredients, but any cooking skills I might have had before this were nonexistent. Eventually giving up, I made my way back to the spare futon I had found and fell asleep. Whatever would happen tomorrow I'd deal with tomorrow. Right now felt like a great time to forget everything and just sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Life at Sasuke's house fell into a routine. I'd get up, get dressed, try my best to make a decent meal, fail, and watch Sasuke leave while I just kind of sat around until dinner time. Any attempt at conversation with my relative was short and awkward. I'd get about as far as good morning, which he'd reply with a look before I lost all of my confidence. I'm not sure where he went when he left the house, but he didn't ever come home until it was dark. After about a week of Sasuke's depressing presence, I'm ashamed to admit I might have snapped. When he barely touched his breakfast, some toast, eggs, and milk, and stood to leave I spoke up.

"Where are you going?" Ignoring his surprised look and trying to fight down my embarrassment I continued.

"You told me to come live with you, but all you've done this week is disappear! I don't know what I should be doing! Am I supposed to go back to school? I don't know where that is! I barely know how to cook, but I don't know how to go out and eat! I'd appreciate it if you could help out, you know?"

I trailed off as my frustration was replaced by weariness. Sasuke was looking at me like he was seeing me for the first time since I moved in. Groaning, he scratched the back of his head and looked me up and down. "Hn…sorry. I've been…out of it."

An understatement. I snorted, "No kidding man...It's just, without my memories, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing." Sasuke looked towards the door and then back to me. Sighing he moved to put his sandals on.

"Sorry. I don't know what I expected you to do. It's easy to forget this must be weird for you…..sigh…..Come on Shirou. I'll show you around the village today….."

And he did. We spent the entire day quietly walking around places Sasuke was familiar with. He took me to everywhere he thought I'd need to know. I made a large effort to remember where everything happened to be located. I had been hoping I'd see some familiar locations to jog my memory. Nothing registered though, which although unsurprising was completely disappointing. The entire time, Sasuke didn't really strike up any kind of conversation. He just kind of led me around and told me things about places. Just generic information. I got the impression this wasn't something he really wanted to be doing. I appreciated the effort though. The most interesting place we went in my opinion was the shinobi academy that Sasuke attended. It was late in the afternoon by the time we made our stop, so there weren't that many people around. The academy was connected to a much larger building that turned out to be the Hokage tower. The reason they'd want a school full of children right next to the main government building was lost on me.

I asked where Sasuke had been going lately, and he just shrugged and said he'd been coming here….Which pissed me off. I thought that my relative had been walking the streets all by his lonesome, depressed and miserable. When actually, he'd come straight back here to learn how to become a badass ninja! The little bastard. Ugh, I was trying not to be too judgmental though. He was just a kid, and he was probably just trying to go back to some form of normalcy. I couldn't blame him for forgetting about me in the midst of his crisis. It still hurt though.

"So, was there no school today?"

"There was….. But I thought that this might be more important. One day missing won't hurt. By the way, do you want me to show you how to find the civilian school?"

At his suggestion, I almost nodded…Before gazing up at the academy. The temptation was heavy. Noticing my look, Sasuke followed my eyes, before giving me a small smirk. It was the first thing close to a smile that he'd directed at me since I moved in. I almost gawked at it, before chuckling and rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.

"Ummm, would anyone be mad if I showed up to class here instead?"

Sasuke shrugged before telling me that he wasn't sure, but that I could come with him to the next class and find out. No one had contacted me about going back to the civilian school. In fact, no one seemed all that concerned about me at all. The only person I'd talked to in the last week had been Sasuke. The general lack of social interaction must have been unusual to me because it had been unbearable. I was confused with my personality honestly. I felt like I needed to be around people more, but whenever I tried to talk, I'd quickly lose my shaky confidence. Sasuke confused me too. I had expected him to be bitter, and that he talked to me at all was surprising. When he wasn't looking at me though, I'd look at him and see something angry. It was like whenever we weren't interacting, he retreated into himself. When I tried to talk to him though, he'd snap out of it and shake it off.

After our visit to the Academy, we picked up some dinner and walked home. At the table that night, I asked Sasuke all about the Academy. He seemed shocked at my chattiness. To be honest I was too, but I couldn't contain my excitement about school! I wanted to see people! Real people! And talk to them! God and learning about ninja! I didn't know what it was about ninja that was getting my mind so excited. It was probably something about who I used to be. I didn't know what ninja really did. But the word ninja sent off jolts of knee-jerk excitement in my head. There was just something screaming at me to become one. Sasuke patiently answered each of my questions with a quirked eyebrow. He told me about each subject they were learning. Which wasn't much, he told me. This was his first year at the Academy, so right now the focus was on the normal subjects. I was only interested in the ones involving ninja, of course. Sasuke told me about their physical education, which included sparing! (I didn't comment that I was hesitant to imagine six year olds brawling. Mostly because I thought Sasuke probably COULD beat me up…haha) And even obstacle courses! Finally he told me about what he did after school. Which was training. So that explained why he'd come home so late every day.

The last question I asked Sasuke was why I'd been going to the civilian academy at all.

"I don't actually know…Maybe it's something your dad wanted?"

"You knew my dad?"

"Not really. I just knew he wasn't a ninja. Your half-brother Shisui's father, was my father's brother. So your family was closer to mine than most. But you and I didn't really know each other. It's hard to say."

"Huh, so my brother's name was Shisui?"

"Yes."

Sasuke was starting to look uncomfortable. I realized my innocent curiosity was his tragedy. The rest of dinner was quiet.

My dreams that night were filled with bad-ass ninja saving the world. Surprisingly the dreams revolved mostly around a boy, not me, who went on to become a legend. By the morning I forgot the majority of these dreams, not realizing their enormous importance.

I spent an embarrassing amount of time in front of a mirror before school the next morning. I was nervous. Really nervous. I didn't know what I was doing. What if I failed at everything? Or what if they told me I wasn't allowed inside and to go back to the civilian academy? Or what if-

My worries were cut off as Sasuke yelled at me to hurry up. Meeting him at the door, we both set off towards the academy. We arrived at the building to find many young children milling outside the entrance. I guessed that they'd all go in at one time when the doors opened. Sasuke led me passed all of them and went on inside. Once inside the building, he led me through a series of confusing (to me) series of halls until he stopped in front of a door. Peering inside, he found what he was looking for, before opening the door completely. Inside was a man with his hair tied back into a pony-tail and a scar across his nose. He turned as he heard the door opened and landed his eyes on Sasuke and me.

"Sasuke, what can I do for you?"

Silently, he placed his hand on my shoulder and pushed me, not so gently, foreword. The man's eyes landed on me, and widened.

"Is this-"

"Shirou wants to enroll."

Way to get right to the point Sasuke. Feeling my palms get sweaty, I looked up to the man and spoke probably too loudly.

"UH YES PLEASE! I-I, just don't know what to do right now, and I…uh…thought that I'd come…here…."

Yep. Just as expected. A ton of confidence at first, but a quick fade into silence. God I sucked. Why couldn't I just be cool? Once! I could've been all like, "Hn. Yes. Make me into a powerful shinobi…" But nooooo, I just had to come across as a hopeless loser. Shock crossed the man's face as he looked from me to Sasuke, then back to me. Shaking it off, the man smiled.

"Well, I'm sure if you really wanted to enroll it could be arranged. But if I'm not mistaken, I thought you went to Gensuken? Shouldn't you already be enrolled there?"

"…Yea but…I don't have any memories, so I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I thought I could come here and learn how to be a cool ninja! And Sasuke goes here, and he's really the only person I know…so…"

A glance from Sasuke was his only reaction, but the man chuckled a little before mock sighing. "Well I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to transfer you over. Sasuke's in my class which is in its first year right now. So you'd have to do a ton of catch up work, but it is possible."

My smile couldn't have been wider. Feeling my confidence puff back up to maximum, I fixed my glasses and rubbed my eyes. "I can do it! Please! I want to be a badass!" Which probably wasn't exactly what I should've said to a school teacher, but he laughed, so I was ok.

"It's not all about being a badass Shirou. Being a ninja is seriously hard work, and a lifetime commitment to a dangerous job. Are you sure you want to do this?"

There wasn't even a doubt in my mind. I had seen ninja since I woke up in the hospital. Those men and women were jumping on the rooftops, up the walls! The overall cool factor that their job was to be a ninja thrilled me. And then there was that tingling in the back of my mind. A rattle of the door handle in my mind…the one Inoichi had messed with…that was pushing me. It told me that I needed to be here in this school. And when the crazy memory blocking, headache mind-door tells you to do something, you listen.

The man, who introduced himself to me as Iruka, told me that I could go ahead and sit in on today's class. But that he'd have to do the official paperwork to get me transferred to his class. There shouldn't be too much of a hassle because apparently I had been a first year at Gensuken, so a transfer wasn't too bizarre.

Of course at the time, I didn't know that I'd never had any other choice but to become a ninja. Being one of the two people left in Konoha with even the potential to develop the Sharingan, it'd already been decided for me that I'd become a shinobi. The village was extremely lucky that I had such a strong desire to be a "super-cool ninja." Later in life, I'd wish that I'd never even heard of ninja. Stupid ass amnesia was getting in the way of my common sense.

After the academy's bell had ringed, the sound of children began to make their way closer and closer to the room. I followed Sasuke to about the middle of the room and took a seat next to him. He sat right next to the window, and immediately rested his chin on his hand and looked out. Fidgeting in my seat, I waited until the first kids entered the room. I was quickly spotted, and it was hard for me to ignore the blatant stares as these strangers walked into the room one at a time. Maybe they had no idea who I was? The first whispers killed that hypothesis. I could hear words like, "Uchiha. Survivor. Amnesia." Ok, I could understand knowing I was the other Uchiha, I mean I had a big ass fan on my back, which if you didn't know, was the Uchiha's clan symbol. But how did they know I had amnesia? My guess was someone at the hospital had blabbed. Which made me angry. My thoughts were interrupted as Iruka stood center stage in front of the large chalk-board that covered most of the front of the room. He got the class' attention with a yell that I was shocked came out of the man who had seemed so nice and calm. After the class had fallen silent, Iruka began speaking. I asked to stand and introduce myself, which I should've seen coming, but still managed to be nervous.

"Hi guys…my uh-my name is Shirou…," crap, I sounded like a complete a loser. Sucking in as much confidence as I could in one breath I screamed, "AND I WANT TO BECOME A BADASS! NINJA! A uh…a…badass ninja? Shinobi? A badass shinobi? Is there a difference between shinobi in ninja? Haha? Uh, no? Ok…" With that, I stood there awkwardly. I realized I'd waved my fists around while yelling. Coughing to make noise in the silence I had created, I used my index finger to straighten my glass, and sat down abruptly. Iruka had his face in his hands, which made me feel even worse. Sasuke was staring at me like I was something he might have seen in the garbage once. A quick glance at the students, I could see revealed looks of complete befuddlement. Ok…time to kill myself. I put up a valiant effort to keep my eyes foreword and back straight, waiting desperately for Iruka to save me by beginning the lesson. I was so relieved when he began to talk that I visibly slacked in my seat. A glance at Sasuke provided me with a chance to see his raised eyebrow, and then dismissal as he returned his attention to the window. Great, now Sasuke thought I was weird too….shit.

The rest of that morning's class went by relatively uneventful besides a certain event. But I'll get there in a second. I desperately took as many notes as I could. I noticed that my handwriting was distinct and neat and that what I was writing flowed out of me almost on its own. It felt both natural and unnatural. Like I was writing in a language I'd learned in one night. But from what I could tell, my writing was just fine. Strange. I'd had other situations similar to this one since I'd woken up in the hospital. Talking felt completely normal until I focused too much on what I was saying. Then I'd trip over my words like my own language was foreign to me. The same thing happened when other's talked to me. Luckily I was getting used to wearing glasses because I desperately needed them. I wasn't blind without them, but I couldn't see from where I was sitting to the front of the room without them…Which wasn't far. A part of me was worried that this would hinder my ability to be a ninja, but Iruka hadn't turned me away at the door for having them. In fact, a quick scan of the classroom revealed two other prospective shinobi wearing their own set of glasses. So I was probably ok.

The morning lecture focused on everything I DIDN'T care about. The class did basic math, literature, science, and history. Surprisingly, everything except history was a breeze for me. We did an exercise early in the morning where we were given a worksheet with fifty basic addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication problems on it. I finished it in thirty seconds….Iruka gave the class like fifteen minutes to finish it. And most people took at least ten. Noticing my gaze traveling, Iruka asked me if I knew how to do them. Surprised at being addressed, I rushed an, "Uh yea." Which didn't come out very confidently. This got a few chuckles from the class. I heard a mumbled, "Heh, stupid." Sasuke's back stiffened, and he looked ready to turn around, but I beat him to the punch. I wasn't going to get laughed at by a bunch of freaking SIX-year-olds damnit! I was a mother freaking adult!

"Actually I'm already done! So take that!" Standing out of my chair I shoved my paper in the air so everyone could clearly see the neatly marked answers. The voice that had called me stupid had come from a male's voice in the back, but my attention was drawn to the blonde sitting directly behind me. She had shoulder length hair that was uncombed, wore a red tank-top and black shorts, and had three whisker marks on each cheek. Finally, she had really blue eyes that were looking at me like I had squid on my face. I only glanced at her for a second before I slammed my paper down on the table and turned back around to sit down. My reason for calming down this time hadn't been because of losing my confidence, but because of the blonde…That…WAS. NOT. CORRECT. I had to place one of my hands on my face to fight the headache I'd suddenly been attacked by. This was worse than the first time I'd ever woken up, or when Inoichi had tried to go through my door. This was SO freaking painful I had to place my head down for the next ten minutes. I wasn't sure WHAT was so wrong about the girl behind me…but something in my head was yelling at me that "THAT" was wrong. Just something about her was incorrect. And it was killing me. Almost literally, if I was honest. My pain tolerance is abysmal. As the pain ebbed away, I did everything in my power to not look back at the girl again. Because I was afraid that if I did, the pain would return.

When the bell rang for lunch, I asked Sasuke what we should do. He told me the academy served in the cafeteria, and that we could take our trays wherever we wanted to, as long as we didn't leave the grounds and we cleaned up after ourselves. Lunch was longer than I expected, over forty minutes! But, it also served as break time for the students. After getting our lunch, Sasuke led me to the side of the building outside and sat us down. We didn't talk, but I was so hungry that it didn't even bother me. What did bother me, however, were the young ladies that kept walking by…back and forth…giggling…for half an hour. When I shot an incredulous look towards Sasuke, he merely groaned and shrugged. Apparently he was quite popular in class, which, no offense to my relative, I couldn't understand why. He hadn't done anything particularly big in class. Maybe it was something to do with what Sasuke would do during physical conditioning? Ugh, I guess I'd just have to find out. When lunch ended, I followed Sasuke back to the classroom, having honestly forgotten where it was. When class started again, I noticed the only empty seat was right next to where Sasuke and I were sitting, which I hadn't noticed before. I also did my best to not turn around, afraid of seeing the blonde girl again. The second half of the day consisted of chakra theory, which was a lesson I found myself utterly lost in, and physical education. After being told to put out books away, I followed the class through the halls until we reached a set of doors that led to the side of the academy. This area had various fields, rings, and even what looked like the obstacle course Sasuke had mentioned.

Now was my time to shine! I was SO ready! When Iruka told us to run four laps around the track, I was one of the first to sprint off to the front, ready to outrun all of my classmates. My confidence and hope for humanity were simultaneously crushed as EVERYBODY in the class pulled ahead of me before the first curve…And before I finished my first lap EVERYBODY in the ENTIRE class lapped me…By the time I finished my fourth lap, Iruka was already giving instructions to the rest of the class. I was too busy trying to breath to catch any of it. Holy shit…even that fat kid had lapped me three times! I heard Iruka approach and felt him place a hand on my back as I greedily sucked in oxygen. He told me that the next exercise was to partner up and stretch to get ready for the conditioning. THAT HAD BEEN THE GOD DAMN WARM UP RUN!

…..I was going to kill myself when I got home tonight…..I decided. Noticing my dejected look and tears on the edge of my vision, Iruka spoke up, "Did you happen to not channel your chakra while running?"

What? Was that something I was supposed to know how to do? How did all these twerps know how to do it? Breath STILL haggard and scratchy, I decided to just shake my head at Iruka. He nodded like that's what he expected. Then he told me to stay after school so that he could start my catch up lessons. Great, so now everybody would know I was in horrible shape. UGH! I violently pressed my hands into my eyes until I saw colors. Following Iruka's instructions, I walked over towards the rest of the class to find them all mostly partnered up and stretching. Sasuke already had a partner holding his ankles while he did crunches. The only one who was without a partner…my luck blows. It was that blonde, doing her crunches all by herself. She was managing decently, but obviously could use a hand. Shit. My headache was already back, just seeing her. Iruka gave me a small push in her direction, and when I turned to look at him he gave me the hurry your ass up slow poke. Or maybe I just imagined it. I was still a little miffed about the warm-up over to her, I crouched down and did the polite thing (in my opinion). I grabbed both her ankles to help her with the crunches. The minute my skin made contact with hers, the headache split my head open, and all of my brains spilled onto the ground.

My Name Is *# (*$ #&amp; *!&amp;#, AND I'M GOING TO BE HOKAGE DATTEYABO!

I DON'T EVER GO BACK ON MY WORD; THAT'S MY NINJA WAY!

SHADOW-CLONE JUTSU!

RASENGAN!

SASUKE!

The voices yelling directly into my brain distracted me from the foot that connected with my jaw. Surprisingly, the impact stopped the voices and ended the headache. My brain matter wasn't on the ground, but my glasses were. And so was that blood I just spit up. A loud feminine voice yelled at me from the ground, "What the hell do you think you were doing loser?" The. Fuck?

I apparently said this out loud, because two small hands grabbed the front of my t-shirt and dragged me up to eye level. The blonde had kicked me in the chin after I grabbed her ankles. Which pissed me off beyond belief, and also relieved me. The pain in my jaw had ended my hallucination. But I could worry about that later. The blue that was shooting lasers into my eyes demanded attention. Without my glasses, the only thing that was in focus was the blonde girl. Everything behind her was blurry and was impossible to see. It would have made for a charming image had the girl not been trying to light me on fire with her eyes. The girl snarled, "Don't ever touch me again, dobe!"

"…I don't know what a dobe is…. But I was trying to help you!" I managed to grunt out. She didn't just have her hands on my collar, she was choking me!

"A dobe is the dead-last, a loser, and overall waste of space! So in general, you!"

"I. breath. AM. Breath. NOT. BREATH. A LOSER!" I used my hands to grab the wrists of the blonde.

"OH, YEA TOUGH GUY?! THAN WHAT ARE YOU?!"

"…..MY NAME IS SHIROU UCHIHA! AND I'M GOING TO BECOME HOKAGE BITCH!"

**Chapter 2: The First Steps**

**Hello everyone! I am the author of this little fic, and if you're wondering why I didn't put an author's note in the first chapter, well it goes a little something like this. Your only cool enough to directly hear my words if you actually liked the first chapter (garbage that it was) and decided to read the second one! Congratulations! You my friend, are one of the elite!**

**Hahaha!**

**So I wanted this chapter to be about six thousand words, but this seemed like a perfect place to end the chapter. Was anybody surprised about our favorite blonde's change? Cause I was! Up until about half way through writing this chapter, I had planned for Naruto to only change genders but to keep her original personality. But then I got to thinking. A childhood growing up a completely different gender would change how someone acts. So my thought process was that this Naruto grew up to be super tough and bitchy to survive the harshness of the other girl's her age. So that's where that came from. But then I was like, well, later in the story when team seven is assembled, which I plan to consist of Shirou, Sasuke, and Naruto, I thought to myself, there has to be SOME loud ass knuckle-headed loser to keep the team together. But I was conflicted because I didn't think that a kid with amnesia would really be all that outgoing. Until I thought, what if Shirou remembers not his own life from before first, but what he saw while watching the Naruto anime. So if you notice an increase in boldness from Shirou, it's because he remembers Naruto from the anime.**

**Some people might say Sasuke is too OOC, and I'd agree with you. I am honestly having a lot of trouble writing his character. If any of you guys would like to give some advice, please, help an author out! Haha!**

**And if you noticed Shirou refer to himself as a fully grown adult, no that was not a mistake. **

**If there's anything else you guys feel needs explaining, please! Don't be afraid to review or even PM me. I'm open to any kind of constructive criticism!**

**Special Thanks to: IceBlack for being the first follower for this story! Thanks man! I can't believe that awful first chapter made you want to follow! But I still appreciate it!**

**Blazebluekagebushin007, thank you for being the first to drop a review! It totally means the world to me! Seriously, if it were legal to name my first child Blazebluekagebushin007, I really would! Also thank you for following!**

**Thank you cv snowblind, kani-leek-lover, for both following and favoriting. Seriously everyone, you're the best!**


	3. Chapter 3

**SUMMER**

The first few months of the Academy were a mixed bag if I'm being honest with you guys. In the mornings I'd follow Sasuke to class and do my best to stay awake for the academic classes. It was just way too easy. Which worried me…for some reason it felt like anything Iruka taught that had anything to do with regular studies was something that I had heard before. Maybe I'd been really advanced before the attack? It wasn't simple knowledge though. It felt like I'd heard it all before. Anyway, after those classes ended, I'd eat lunch with Sasuke in our usual spot by the side of the building. It felt like he was opening up to me a bit more. Don't get me wrong, a one minute conversation was still my record, and I had been the one talking most of the time, but I _was _getting somewhere. Then were the basic chakra lessons and physical education. After that first day in class, Iruka had spent a few hours introducing me to the chakra in my body and the basics of manipulating it. At first I felt like a hopeless case. I couldn't feel anything he was talking about. It actually took me two weeks of after-school lessons until I first felt a shimmer of something. It started as just a shake in my stomach, but using the knowledge I'd learned from Iruka, I managed to gather my first bit of chakra. After that it was like the flood gates had opened. For two weeks I had struggled to understand what chakra was supposed to even feel like, but when I gathered some for the first time, things changed. Suddenly it was everywhere, but nowhere I had expected. I had thought that I would feel an immense surge of power flow through my body, power I could use to beat up that Naruto girl. Instead it was only a small candle in my stomach. What truly caught me off guard was the awareness I suddenly had to the chakra around me. It. Was. Everywhere. How the crap had I ignored all of this for weeks?

The chakra in my body was nothing compared to the chakra that was sticking to everything else. I actually gagged trying to breathe it in, and my eyes watered as they felt it for the first time. It's like walking through a cloud of pollen but not realizing that you were until you did all of a sudden. Iruka didn't know what was wrong with me. It took a while to pass, and even now it's difficult to completely ignore. I couldn't _see_ the chakra, but I freaking knew it was there. And it was taunting me. But I didn't tell anyone. I couldn't give them another reason not to want me to be a ninja. While my academic scores were stellar, my chakra theory and physical education were miles behind the rest of the class. The training I'd been so been looking forward to had become my most dreaded period of the day. The time before I'd become aware of my chakra had been hell. Iruka taught me that these little twerps had been conditioned to use their chakra to stimulate all of their muscles while exercising. This was the simplest technique in a ninja's arsenal. The first thing that they were taught. And for a while, _I _couldn't do it. I'm sure you can understand how frustrating and humiliating that had been. Sasuke had even looked EMBARRASED some days! The one emotion he displayed at the Academy was embarrassment towards his only living relative. Like he couldn't believe he was associated with me. I gave him credit, however, for not ditching me. I wouldn't have expected that from a six year old.

Anyway, before I could manipulate my chakra effectively, everyone ran circles around me…literally. I had been excited the first class they'd gone over the basic taijutsu katas, but that had led to sparing. Where I had lost. To everybody I fought. Ugh…This is depressing. Let's skip to the part after I had discovered my chakra. It had still taken a little while before I could use it while working out. And even then, it was an extremely concentrated effort. My classmates could manipulate the chakra in their body unconsciously. I was aware of that irritating ember sparking in my stomach the whole time. You weren't even finished there! You had to carefully move said ember to where it needed to be for any specific work-out! It was an extreme test of multi-tasking that I rarely did well at. That being said, I eventually managed to finish four warm up laps at the same time as the rest of the class. Sasuke gave me a subtle nod as the two of us partnered up to stretch. I did my best to not flash a grin at the blonde witch. She had still beaten me. But she had beaten everyone else too, so I wasn't upset. After that first day of class, Sasuke and I had an unspoken rule. We'd always partner up after the warm up run, and we'd stay as _FAR _away from _her_ as possible. I appreciated my cousin looking out for me like that. It was nice. Even on that first day, I had been really surprised by him. After shouting at the girl that I'd become the Hokage, she'd cocked her fist back and about broke my nose. Until Sasuke caught her swing and pulled me behind him! Like a BADASS! She'd looked pissed as she asked me if I would always need someone to save me. I spit my tongue and pulled my eyelid down with my middle finger at her. I felt like a winner that day.

After that incident I felt sort of different. My confidence didn't fade as quickly, and it felt like I got angrier quicker. When I woke up in the hospital, I'd been fairly polite and only a little snarky. Now I almost yelled at someone in class every other day. Iruka was getting better at hitting me square in the head with his chalk. One day I'd catch that little bastard mid-throw and chuck it back at him. Maybe this is what I'd been like before the attack? If so I wasn't sure I should continue acting like this. I had become known as a delinquent in class and a source of disruption. Almost the exact opposite of Sasuke's cool and collected smarts. I won't lie and say I wasn't envious of him, but I couldn't help my growing outbursts. I'd screw-up in class or outside, hear someone crack a joke, and immediately snap at them or yell. I also wasn't positive where my new obsession with the Hokage had come from.

When I had touched _her_, I think I got a few of my memories back. Which didn't make one bit of sense, but whatever. Nothing about that girl made sense anyway. Even her name, Naruto, felt like it didn't belong. Actually I kept getting the impression that she had taken it from a close friend of mine. The thoughts I had gotten when I touched her ankles _felt_ like memories. I didn't remember the majority of them, ironically enough, but what had stuck out the most was the Hokage. It just kind of…slipped out that I wanted to be one. After being written off as the "Lost-Cause-Uchiha", and yes I had actually heard an ADULT say that, I felt determined to prove them wrong. At the very least I had to become the awesome ninja I kept talking about, but it would be like a kick in the teeth to everyone if I had MY face up on the mountain.

I didn't comment on the fact that for some reason it felt like I'd stolen this new dream. You know that feeling you get when you hear someone come up with a cool idea and you use it? For some reason it felt like that. Which didn't make any sense since I'd heard it in my _own_ head.

My after-school lesson with Iruka had been about chakra coils. A subject that we were currently on in class, but I was having some difficulty with it. Iruka actually did a good job of explaining it for me step by step. I was silently impressed with the man's ability to read when I was lost and backtrack to help me. I wouldn't admit it out loud, but without his help, I'd probably be failing. When I left, I was surprised to see Sasuke leaning on the gate outside of the Academy waiting for me. Usually he went off to train while I studied with Iruka, and we'd both meet up back at his house for dinner. Walking up to him, I adjusted my glasses in a quickly growing nervous twitch.

"You feeling good about spars tomorrow?"

It was unusual for my cousin to start the conversation first, so it took me a few steps as he fell in stride with me to respond. "Ugh…Not really. I _just _learned the taijutsu forms the other day, and I haven't won a single fight yet. At least I don't think I have. Plus, I can barely manipulate my chakra while doing other things. Whoever I get paired with is going to destroy me tomorrow."

"Hn. Want to practice?"

I almost tripped as I heard Sasuke speak. Is that why he waited on me? Ah! He really did care! I KNEW Sasuke didn't want me to be utterly embarrassed in front of everybody. With crocodile tears on the sides of my eyes, "You'd do that for me? You're the best man! This is going to be awesome! You won't regret this I swear!"

I didn't understand why at the time, but the smirk he threw at me caused a shudder to run down my spine.

At first, he had me run through the basic Academy forms that we'd been going over for a little while. There were about fifteen basic stances and movements in the first level. In every single one of them I did, Sasuke had something to correct. I didn't mind so much though. He was the one who knew this crap. He also kept asking me if I was channeling my chakra while holding the forms. I only slipped a few times, and by the end I was sweating heavily. I could feel the ambient chakra in the air more when I was tired, and right now I was almost coughing on it. Sasuke told me that my chakra reserves were quite low, but that was only from lack of use. They were like a muscle, and the more they were exercised the stronger they would grow. After he was finished correcting my stances, he told me to come at him. I hesitated. Mostly because I knew. I _knew_. That this kid could whoop my ass. But this is what we were here for. And he wasn't doing this just to prove he was better. He was trying to help ME. So with that train of thought, I sucked it up, and entered the first taijutsu stance I'd practiced. Sasuke, did not. He spread his legs further and bent his knees. Instead of two fists in front of his body like mine, he was turned so his right fist was facing me and his left a bit backwards. I hadn't ever seen this stance used by the teachers, or anyone at the school. It hit me that this might be an _Uchiha_ form. Which made me even more scared….Damn…

I was on the ground, looking at the sky. What had happened? I'd thrown a punch, just like I'd been taught. Then I was on my back. Ugh….. Sasuke's hand appeared in my vision. He hauled me off of my ass and back onto my feet.

"What did you do wrong?"

"I lost."

On my back again….the fuck?

"What did you do wrong?"

Oh. OHHH. So that's how it was going to be. Scrambling back into a fighting stance, I kept my eyes on him. Had I taken my eyes off of him when I'd attacked? I hadn't seen him move to counter, but maybe I hadn't been looking? Could I be that stupid?

"I took my eyes off of the target?" Maybe?

"No."

On my back AGAIN! How the hell?! I'd seen him move that time though. I'd seen his fist lash out at me…But I hadn't felt a punch. Had I? SHIT! Once more I stood up. This time when Sasuke looked towards me, I took my eyes off his face, and watched his whole body. His fist was moving towards me as he got closer, but his left leg was too! Moving out of the way of the fist, to be sure, I also stumbled out of the way of the leg. My success didn't last long as Sasuke spun and used that leg to kick me in the head. I was on the ground. This time however, his hand was back in my face. Rubbing the spot his foot had impacted, I let him pull me back up. I was sweating.

"When fighting someone, make sure to be aware of everything their doing. They may be coming at you one way, but they really may connect from somewhere else. Watch." This time, Sasuke came at me in slo-mo. I watched as his fist approached, but I kept my eyes moving. As he got closer, he was placing his left leg behind mine. When his arm extended to punch my face, his leg swept mine ought from under me. "This is a simple move that won't work on most people, but it is a good example of paying attention to your opponent in a fight. Also don't forget to keep you chakra flow going. I can tell when you stop."

How?! Man this kid was like Yoda or something…When I asked Sasuke who Yoda was, he beat me up some more. The rest of the night went on like this. I'd attack Sasuke, he'd do some crazy maneuver a few times until I figured it out on my own, then he'd explain it fully. I never landed a single blow, not even close really, but I hadn't expected to. It was hard to make sure I kept my body nimble with chakra, but I could _feel_ the difference when I did. Whenever my mind slipped and I lost my concentration, the chakra in my arms in legs would reduce a bit, and then they'd be really sore. Whenever I kept up the chakra, it was easy to just keep swinging and running. I could see the usefulness. Also anytime I forgot, Sasuke would kick me in the stomach. The bruise that was forming there was a helpful reminder to keep focusing.

After about an hour of sparing (beating me up) Sasuke ended it. I immediately collapsed onto my back. I decided then and there that oxygen was a precious commodity and that I would treasure it. Sasuke didn't even look winded. The bastard. All of my negative thoughts on him were erased when he held out a water bottle for me. Forget oxygen! H2O bitches! Thank you Sasuke, you amazing human being! It's almost enough to make me forget you were the one who did this to me! Using my collar, I tried to wipe off the sweat that had been getting into my eyes. It wasn't very effective, and I almost took off my shirt to use it as a rag before an actual rag was thrown in my face. Tearing it off, I glared at my cousin who was giving me a superior smirk. Where the hell did he get this crap? He never carried a bag anywhere! Ugh, I didn't want to think about it. To busy trying to drown myself with the water bottle.

"Thanks Sasuke…You didn't have to help…but I appreciate it." There. Gratitude for all the bruises and mental scars.

"Heh, maybe I just didn't want to watch you get pulverized again tomorrow?"

GRK! Throwing the water bottle had no effect considering the smooth little bastard caught the damn thing without even looking. When I moved to stand up, I almost fell back on my ass. I had to use a tree to make sure that I didn't. My legs were trembling, and I couldn't shove any chakra down into them to tell them to hurry up. I realized pretty quickly that this wasn't going to work.

"Sasuke? A hand?"

Sigh. Moving over, Sasuke threw my arm over his shoulder, and hauled me up. Damn, shit, piss, shit, piss, crap! UGH! Everything hurt! My face must have been hilarious, because the bastard had the gall to actually smirk! Although…Ever since I had woken up, the only thing that caused a positive emotion in my cousin were the times he could laugh at me…Those early conversations had been bland, awkward, and devoid of emotion. Now though…it felt like there was something there. At almost any other time, Sasuke was blank, and angry. Right now though? He looked like a six year old laughing at his sucky cousin…

If it made him happy, I could be that.

The next morning I had to roll out of my futon and crawl to the bathroom. OH. MY. GOD. Looking at myself in the mirror was difficult. Purple and yellow bruises marked my chest and back. My knees were still shaking with visible effort to keep me up. My glasses and hair only slightly obscured a shiner on my right temple. Probably from where Sasuke had kicked me…Basically I looked like shit. Ah man! I'm barely holding myself up! How am I going to do anything in a spar today? Walking to the kitchen, I was surprised to see Sasuke already getting ready to walk out. I must have slept in, which wasn't too shocking considering last night. Of course he looked perfectly fine. When his eyes landed on me, Sasuke actually smirked.

"Try gathering your chakra. It'll move the lactic acid and take away some of that soreness."

"Che, I wouldn't be like this if you weren't a crazy sadist."

"Heh, not my problem. Don't be late…dobe."

"URK! You little shi-!"

Sasuke shut the door in my face. God damn that little! Sighing, I decided to at least give his advice a shot. I can't believe he used that girl's nickname! It's not THAT creative. Ugh. Moving my chakra from my stomach to my legs, and then back up my body, I could feel my muscles loosen up. At the very least, Sasuke knew what he was talking about. But I'd have to keep molding my chakra to stop being sore. Which would exhaust what little chakra I had before the spar…I'd have to deal with the pain while sitting down in class to save my chakra. One day I'd beat the crap out of that little twerp. Adjusting my glasses I left the house and made my way towards the Academy.

The school day was agonizing. People were whispering and giggling like little idiots when they saw my face. My short-sleeved shirt also revealed a few bruises on my arms. Rumors were being thrown around wondering just _who _beat me up. I could practically feel happiness radiating off of Naruto behind me. I guess she thought this was hilarious. Iruka also gave me an odd look when he walked in. I just shrugged and glanced at Sasuke. I think he got the general idea. After I sat down, I had to slowly stop molding chakra. My body started throbbing in pain, and it made it next to impossible to concentrate during class. When it was finally time to go outside, I gladly gathered my chakra. The relief that flowed through my body was addicting. It wasn't necessarily a pain remover, but the chakra did fill me with energy. After our warm-up run and stretches, Iruka separated everyone into partners. Boys and girls weren't allowed to spar in their first year, so I didn't have to worry about Naruto until I was ready. From what I'd heard about her she was a monster. Where most of the girls in my class didn't focus too heavily on taijutsu, Naruto would destroy whoever she fought. It made everyone who was paired with her a nervous wreck. I was looking foreword to watching her fight though. If I could get a feel for her rhythm, I might be able to stop her one day. Sasuke got paired with a kid form the Inuzuka clan, a family who trained nin-dogs to fight with them…Which sounded awesome! I could use a dog that could fight alongside me. Unfortunately the boy, Kiba, didn't have a partner yet, so I didn't have a puppy to admire. I'd have to ask him about that one day. Apparently Kiba was a decent fighter, which was why Iruka paired him with Sasuke. My partner was a boy I hadn't seen around too much. His name was Takero. No last name, which meant he was an orphan. There were a surprising amount of orphans in Konoha. But this was a militaristically based village so I shouldn't be too shocked.

Our turn didn't come until close to the end of class. Sasuke had won his spar, which had been expected, but Kiba had fought well too. I gave them both a thumbs up and a smile as they walked passed. Sasuke only nodded, but Kiba flashed me a toothy grin. When it was finally my turn, I nervously walked to the middle of the clearing. Takero was a few seconds behind, and we both slid into the Academy's first stance. I was really nervous. I had lost every spar I'd been in so far, and the training with Sasuke the previous night had barely counted. There was no way I could've beaten my cousin. This fight however, I felt that there was a shot at victory. I mumbled a good luck to my partner, and he nodded seriously back at me. We must have looked ridiculous, two six year olds standing in the middle of a group about to fight. The situation was actually pretty comical when thinking about it like that.

At Iruka's shout, Takero rushed at me with his fist cocked back. I made sure to keep my eyes on his whole body…Yeah, he was definitely going straight for a punch towards my face. I kept my chakra flowing through my body as he approached, and when he finally did, I stepped to the right of his punch and grabbed his arm. Using the force he'd used to swing, I kept his momentum going in that direction as I swung him to the ground. Keeping my grip on his arm as his face hit the dirt, I twisted it so that it was behind his back. Finally I pressed my knee just below his arm to keep him down. The whole exchanged lasted no longer than maybe four seconds? Iruka called the match mine and it was over…That was it? Ugh, I might have been able to beat this kid without Sasuke. Still though, I was glad that I had won! Most of the class had seen that too. I felt pretty cool.

I stood up and watched as Takero turned over to glare at me. Sorry kid, but I wasn't going to lose to that after everything Sasuke had put me through last night. I'm sure that if I had, he would have beaten me up all over again. Sighing, I stretched out my hand to haul him up. I wasn't going to be a sore winner. He didn't stop glaring at me though, the little twit. Iruka told us to exchange the display of respect, something I'd seen everyone else do. Basically it was like a hand shake with your fingers. A little too adorable for my tastes, but I held out my index and middle fingers to the kid. He looked hesitant, but only for a second before we shook and left the center. I walked to my cousin who gave me a small smirk.

"Guess those bruises were worth it?"

People looked surprised to see him talking at all, but I just snorted, "If I had known that was all I had to do today, I wouldn't have let you use me as a punching bag."

"Heh, whatever."

The two of us walked over towards the girl's who were still going. It was the blonde witch and someone with purple hair. Geeze, the strangest thing about this place wasn't even the ninja magic, it was the freaking hair colors. There was even a girl named Sakura in our class with pink hair. Naruto ended the fight in seconds, even smoother than I had. But I had to assume that purple might not be as sloppy as Takeo. Purple had gone for a leg sweep which Naruto had jumped over and had used as an opportunity to kick her in the face. I had to flinch as she connected. That was too brutal, and right in the same spot Sasuke had kicked me. Although, from the way Purple's head spun, Naruto had put WAY more force into that kick. It was an unnecessary amount of force. Yeah these were fights, but we were also classmates. This was to get better, not to humiliate. My eyes widened after Naruto went to kick the already downed girl. Her foot connected with the purple girl's stomach and I could hear the air leave her. Nope, that was a line crossed. I could hear Iruka yell out a warning as I ran into the ring. Naruto was rearing back for another kick when I tackled her from behind. We both rolled unceremoniously over purple, crap, sorry! I ended up pinning the blonde down and gasped for breath. I was about to yell at her when her fist connected with my stomach. The force of the blow rolled me to the ground. Naruto used the time I was using to get air to stand back up. I'd also stopped channeling chakra at some point, so my whole body hurt.

"YOU? What are you even doing?" Her voice would've sounded adorable had it been a regular six year old. But when it was directed at you, you couldn't ignore the presence it had.

"That girl was already done. You don't kick people when their already down…especially not classmates. She didn't deserve that…so I stopped you…"

"Didn't deserv-! What the hell do you know?! I caught that "helpless girl" bullying kids I used to know from the orphanage yesterday! She used to do it to me before I came to the Academy! Don't talk about what people "deserve" when you DON'T know what you're talking about dumbass!"

Not feeling at all finished, "SO WHAT!? You want to be just as bad as her? Or worse? Be my guest…I don't care what you do. But don't you ever kick somebody when their already down, not in front of me."

"What are you going to do about it?"

I didn't even have to think hard about it. I slid into the first form of the Academy's stance. Naruto just let loose a horrifying grin, and slid into a more advanced form that I'd seen second years using…Shit. For a moment I glanced at Iruka. Why wasn't he stopping us? My distraction cost me as a tan leg entered my field of vision. I barely bent backwards far enough for it to miss me. Using my hands I caught myself in a handstand before rolling to my feet. Holy crap! She was coming at me full speed! Naruto swung the leg she'd used to kick me in a full 360 to gain momentum. Fists and knees all came at me at such a rate that I'd only block one attack before getting hit by another. Gasping, I overloaded my legs with chakra to spring about a meter away from the witch. What could I do to beat her? She was obviously stronger and quicker than me…Did she have a weakness? Was there anything that Sasuke had said that would work?! Shit! She was already running full tilt towards me, tensed up like a spring! The fists came at my face from all directions, and a knee even hit my chin. I was lucky I'd seen her coming, because I'd barely managed to get my hands up to my face to block. I almost jerked in surprise when I realized that the rest of my body was undefended…But Naruto didn't capitalize on this mistake! She just kept single-mindedly attacking my face! Looking at her eyes, I could see that she was completely focused on my upper-body. Springing away one more time, I immediately prepared for her barrage. There! Once again, her eyes were locked onto my face! Pulling back my right fist I watched as her eyes followed. Her body moved to dodge as I slipped my left leg behind hers…and JERKED! Naruto's whole body slipped out from under her as her head hit the ground. She didn't get back up. A few seconds turned into more, and she still didn't move to keep fighting.

Silence. The only sound in the ring was of Naruto groaning as she clutched her head. She wasn't bleeding, sigh, good. She probably only had a mild concussion. She'd definitely have a major headache, which I could sympathize with…It took a few seconds to realize I'd _beaten_ Naruto…I didn't feel as good as I had thought that I would. We weren't on the same level. She'd been training her ass off for God knows how long, and I'd gotten beaten up in a forest by my cousin for one night. I _shouldn't_ have won. But she'd made a mistake, and I'd capitalized on it. It didn't feel like a victory, because I still wasn't stronger than her. But maybe that was the point? We were ninja, so underhanded tricks were allowed. Hell they were even encouraged! Still….I didn't like it. I wanted to be BETTER than her. Stronger, and just…more than just "sort of" clever. Sighing I rubbed my eyes with my hands. Bad move. Ugh they were sweaty! That really stung.

Looking down at Naruto, she had stopped grabbing her head, and was glaring up at me. I reached down my hand to help her up…I don't know why…It just felt like the thing I was _supposed_ to do. She looked at it for a second before scoffing and standing on her own. She kept her eyes on me the whole time, as if thinking I'D kick her while she was down. Haha, yeah no. She'd probably tear my foot off. Keeping our eye contact, I kept my hand out and extended my index and pointer fingers. This may not have been a real match…But I would acknowledge her skill, if only so I could beat her one day. She glared down at my hand and…and turned and walked away. I shouldn't have been SO hurt. She was a vindictive little six year old bitch, and I shouldn't want her approval. But something about that dismissal of my skill really _hurt_. Honestly I felt like tackling her again. But I merely let out a shaky breath. Fine, I'd just have to make her acknowledge me.

Walking over to where Purple was STILL on the ground, (how hard had she kicked her in the head?!), I bent over and made sure she was all right. One nasty bruise on her temple was the only sign of physical damage, but I'd bet that her stomach wasn't too great either. When I saw a shadow cover my vision, I turned to see Iruka holding up Naruto by her collar.

"That was a great spar Shirou-kun! I hope it was worth three weeks detention!"

SHIT!

Naruto didn't look too happy either, but she wasn't looking at me. Sighing, I just closed my eyes as I listened to Iruka lecture my ear off. He went on and on about not starting fights with people just for the sake of it, and I didn't correct him. Maybe he hadn't seen what Naruto had done to Purple, but that didn't explain why he had let the fight go on like a real spar? Instead of worrying too much about it, I merely nodded when Iruka told me to meet him afterschool for detention. And by the way, my afterschool catch up sessions had just been moved to after detention, so I got to spend even MORE time at the Academy with him! Oh. Boy.

When Iruka was done, I walked over to my cousin who was giving me an odd considering look. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at me.

"Hn…not bad. Meet me where we trained last night after detention. I'll wait up on you."

And like that everything had been worth it. I had been worried that detention would mean that Sasuke wouldn't train me anymore. Now that I knew that wasn't the case, I could relax.

"Whatever. Not bad my ass. I totally beat her! Hehe, and fine, I'll see you there tonight." My grin couldn't have been larger.

**Author's Notes**

**-So what did you guys think of this chapter? Good? Bad? I honestly had a tough time figuring out what I wanted to do this chapter. I thought that maybe I should develop the main characters a bit more before the story really kicks into gear. If you're wondering, Naruto is the equivalent to the kunoichi of the year, which makes Shirou's victory so extraordinary. This fight was used to illustrate the use of brains rather than brawn between two fighters. **

**-Anyway I'm still struggling with Sasuke's character, but I think I have the basic idea for what I want from Naruto. If you guys have any questionsthan don't be afraid to leave a review or even a PM. I'm always open to talk. Any advice to make this fic better is very much appreciated. Trust me, I need all the help I can get.**

**Special Thanks: **

**Thank you Yakule, terfa, powerbome, and fanfiction2010 for all favoriting and following. You guys are great! **

**Thank you to "guest" for leaving me my second review. I appreciate the advice. I was being too much of a smart ass and I can see how people might not appreciate "spoilers." Thank you for reviewing!**

**That's it for this one! I appreciate you reading! Please review and favorite! Everything helps!**


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